Stationary antidazzling screen for shielding of vehicle headlights between separate roadways

ABSTRACT

In highway and motorway traffic there is a great demand for the point of view of traffic safety to drive the vehicle in the dark without dipping the headlights from driving to short-range light upon each passing of oncoming traffic and diminishing the range of sight in front of the vehicle. According to the invention an antidazzling screen is provided between separate roadways consisting of elongated thin and flexible strips disposed within the untraveled portion and forming a small angle or alternatively extending parallel to the roadways with the end of the strip resting on or in the ground. The antidazzling screen according to the invention permits vehicles to meet without dipping the headlights and is very cheap to manufacture and to assemble and can easily collapse on collision without seriously damaging the vehicle and hurting the travelers.

United States Patent Per Edvard Carl Udden Nygatan l, Timra, Sweden 792,572

Jan. 21, 1969 June 8, 1971 Feb. 6, 1968 Sweden Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Priority STATIONARY ANTIDAZZLING SCREEN FOR SHlELDlNG HEADLIGHTS BETWEEN SEPARATE ROADWAYS 5 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1958 Wiswell 2/1962 Maclntyre Primary Examiner.lacob L. Nackenoff Attorney-Fred Philpitt ABSTRACT: In highway and motorway traffic there is a great demand for the point of view of traffic safety to drive the vehicle in the dark without dipping the headlights from driving to short-range light upon each passing of oncoming traffic and diminishing the range of sight in front of the vehicle. According to the invention an antidazzling screen is provided between separate roadways consisting of elongated thin and flexible strips disposed within the untraveled portion forming a small angle or alternatively extending parallel to the road ways with the end of the strip resting on or in the ground. The antidazzling screen according to the invention permits vehicles to 'meet without dipping the headlights and is very cheap to manufacture and to assemble and can easily collapse on collision without seriously damaging the vehicle and hurting the travellers.

SHEET 1 (IF 3 PATENTEU JUN. 8 I971 ,m BE

PATENTED JUN 8I97l 3583297 SHEET 2 BF 3 Fig.1.

PATENTED Jun 8 l9?! 3 583 297 SHEET 3 OF 3 STATIONARY ANTIDAZZLING SCREEN FOR SHIELDING IIEADLIGIITS BETWEEN SEPARATE ROADWAYS The present invention relates to a stationary antidazzling screen for shielding of vehicle headlights between separate roadways, preferably on roads having roadways separated by the untraveled portion or the like. Such antidazzlers are primarily installed on motorways with the purpose to enable vehicles to meet in darkness with their driving light switched on without their drivers getting dazzled by the oncoming traffic. This is extremely important from the point of safety in traffic, since the dipping of the headlights from driving to shortrange light upon each passing involves considerably aggravated sight conditions for the vehicle driver, notwithstanding the use of asymmetric short-range light. The most satisfactory sight conditions, of course, are created by astationary illumination of the roadways, but owing to the high costs of installation and operation involved, it must be expected to take a considerable time until all motorways and arterial roads have been equipped with such illumination.

The antidazzlers hitherto used, as a rule, were constructed in the form of continuous fences between the roadways in which case the screening elements consist either of vertically extending laths or of close-mesh wire netting. Although such types of fences are effective from the point of view of screening, they are relatively expensive due to the fact that any antidazzling arrangements must be considered as provisional while waiting for a stationary illumination to be installed. Contributing to the expense of prior art stationary antidazzlers, of course, is the necessity of dimensioning them to be able to withstand high wind loads, due to their high wind resistance. The comparatively high cost of installation of such antidazzling systems, therefore, is the reason why such systems have only been installed to a limited extent and only in certain countries. In addition, such prior art types of antidazzling systems are unsuitable from the point of view of safety of trafflc because, due to their robust design, they will constitute dangerous obstacles in case of collisions.

The primary object of the present invention resides in enabling a stationary antidauling system to be manufactured and installed at very low costs.

Another object resides in enabling the antidazzling system of the invention to be disposed in a manner taking into consideration the nature of the road and the road environments.

A further object resides in making the antidazzler of the invention readily collapsible on collision without seriously damaging the vehicle, and thus without seriously hurting the travellers.

With these objects in view, the antidazzling screen of the present invention is mainly characterized in that said screening elements are comprised by elongated, thin and flexible strips with their longitudinal direction forming a small angle with, or alternatively extending in parallel to, the roadways, the ends of said elements being fixed on supports mounted on or in the ground.

A few embodiments of the invention will now be described more closely by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a motorway having an untraveled portion within which an antidazzling screen according to the invention is arranged;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the antidazzling screen of FIG. I;

FIG. 3 illustrates how the antidazzling screen of FIG. 2 will deform due to a certain wind load acting thereon in the longitudinal direction;

FIG. 4 illustrates alternative designs of the strips according to the invention;

FIG. 5 shows cross-sectional views of two strips according to FIG. 4, said strips being formed with longitudinally extending flanges and beads, and I FIG. 6 illustrates an alternative disposition of the antidazzling screen within the untraveled portion.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the highway.

Disposed within an untraveled portion I of a two-lane mo torway, a succession of light-screening elements 2 is arranged between the roadways 3. Each screening element 2, in this embodiment, is in the form of an elongated and flexible strip (see FIG. 4a) having its end edges supported on the ground in such a way that each strip is arcuate in its longitudinal direction.

The screening elements 2 are formed at their ends with flanges 4 supported on the ground and affixed to it. In FIG. 1, the screening elements are disposed in a succession and relatively spaced by a certain distance and with their longitudinal direction in parallel with the driving direction. The arcuate configuration of the screening elements will impart to them a high degree of transverse rigidity, whereas they are readily deformable in their longitudinal direction by wind pressure, for example, as will be seen from FIG. 3. Strip length and radius of curvature must be determined in relation to the average height above ground of the vehicle headlights. A suitable screening element will be obtained if this average height corresponds to the height above ground of those increments of the arc of the screening element which form an angle of 60 relative to the ground surface plane.

FIG. 4 illustrates three different designs for the strips, according to which strip a is substantially rectangular in shape, strip b is one-sidedly trapezoidal, strip 0 is a double trapezium, and strip d, finally, has the shape of a triangle. It is possible, of course, to conceive a great variety of different strip configurations, but those just-mentioned are the most essential ones from a practical point of view. The strip type to be selected will depend on the degree of curvature of the road and/or anylevel differences between the roadways. In order to impart to the strips a certain degree of bending resistance, they may be provided with longitudinally extending edge flanges or/and beads, as-shown in FIG. 5. v

FIG. 6 illustrates an antidazzling system of an alternative design in which the ends of the screening elements are disposed in juxtaposition, and the elements are relatively laterally offset by an amount corresponding essentially to the width of the strips. Thus, the center points of the strips will be situated on a common line substantially in parallel with the roadways. In the present embodiment, both ends of the screening elements are supported on the ground, although, of course, according to an alternative embodiment, one end could be supported on the ground and the other on the nextpreceding element.

The screening elements may be fixed to the ground in any one of many different ways, such as, for example, by fasteners mounted in their end flanges, or by burying their end portions in the ground, or by forming a concrete strip along the central reserve and moulding the ends of the elements into the concrete.

Owing to their resistance to deformation and low wind resistance in the transverse direction, the screening elements need not be very thick which is advantageous from an economical point of view and further makes the elements readily collapsible in the case of collision, for example.

Iclaim:

1. In a stationary antidazzling screen for shielding of vehicle headlights between separate roadways, preferably on roads having roadways separated by an untraveled portion, including a succession of arcuate screening elements disposed lengthwise within said untraveled portion the improvement that said elements are comprised by elongated, narrow, thin and flexible strips with their longitudinal direction extending substantially parallel to said roadways, the ends of said elements being fixed on supports.

2. An antidazzling screen according to claim 1, wherein said strips are substantially rectangular.

3. An antidazzling screen according to claim 1, wherein said strips are substantially triangular in shape.

4. An antidazzling screen according to claim 1, wherein said strips are substantially trapezoidal in shape.

5. An antidazzling screen according to claim 1, wherein the ends of the screening elements are disposed in juxtaposition, said elements being laterally offset by an amount corresponding substantially to the width of the strips, the midpoints of the strips being situated on a common line extending substantially parallel to the roadways. 

1. In a stationary antidazzling screen for shielding of vehicle headlights between separate roadways, preferably on roads having roadways separated by an untraveled portion, including a succession of arcuate screening elements disposed lengthwise within said untraveled portion the improvement that said elements are comprised by elongated, narrow, thin and flexible strips with their longitudinal direction extending substantially parallel to said roadways, the ends of said elements being fixed on supports.
 2. An antidazzling screen according to claim 1, wherein said strips are substantially rectangular.
 3. An antidazzling screen according to claim 1, wherein said strips are substantially triangular in shape.
 4. An antidazzling screen according to claim 1, wherein said strips are substantially trapezoidal in shape.
 5. An antidazzling screen according to claim 1, wherein the ends of the screening elements are disposed in juxtaposition, said elements being laterally offset by an amount corresponding substantially to the width of the strips, the midpoints of the strips being situated on a common line extending substantially parallel to the roadways. 